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Kenya

Kenya

Ten-Year Summary

The Republic of Kenya became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 July 2001. It has not enacted national implementation legislation. Kenya completed destruction of its stockpile of antipersonnel mines in August 2003. It served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies from September 2002 to September 2003. In November/December 2004, Kenya hosted the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty. It served as co-chair of the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention from November 2007 to November 2008. As of 31 July 2008, Kenya reported retaining 1,020 mines for training purposes.

Kenya has not had an antipersonnel mine problem since becoming a State Party, but it continues to be affected by UXO at military training ranges. In February 2005, the International Mine Action Training Centre opened in Embakasi, near Nairobi’s international airport, with the support of the United Kingdom; it has since become an important regional mine action training center.

As Kenya is only slightly contaminated by UXO, most risk education has been targeted at refugees and, sporadically, at Kenyans in the north. Discrimination and poor access to services remained problematic for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors.

Mine Ban Policy

Kenya signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 5 December 1997 and ratified it on 23 January 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 July 2001. Kenya has been reporting that national legislation was in process since 2004.[1] Kenya submitted its sixth Article 7 report on 31 July 2008. As of 1 July 2009, Kenya had not submitted its annual Article 7 report due on 30 April 2009.[2]

Kenya served as the co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention from 2006–2008. At the Ninth Meeting of States Parties, it made a statement during the general exchange of views noting the “background of unprecedented challenges pertaining to the implementation of the convention and the coordination of the gains already achieved.” It expressed concern about the lack of progress on universalization of the treaty and about the large number of requests for extensions of Article 5 clearance deadlines.[3] It commented on the requests by Senegal, the UK, and Zimbabwe. Kenya also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2009 but did not make any statements.

With respect to issues of treaty interpretation under discussion by States Parties, Kenya has said, on Article 1, that its military may not participate in joint operations or drills where antipersonnel mines are being used.[4] On Article 2, it has said that “any mine that functions or has the capacity to function as an antipersonnel mine…should be considered as an antipersonnel mine and is therefore banned.”[5]

Kenya has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In August 2003, Kenya’s military destroyed its stockpile of 35,774 antipersonnel mines, far ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 July 2005.[6]

In its Article 7 report submitted in July 2008, Kenya cited a total of 1,020 antipersonnel mines retained for training purposes.[7] This is a reduction of 1,980 mines since its Article 7 report submitted in February 2008; however the report submitted on 31 July 2008 does not give details of the actual uses of the mines consumed. At the April 2007 Standing Committee meetings, Kenya reported that the number of retained mines stood at 2,460 “after using 540 APMs [antipersonnel mines] for the provided purposes.”[8] It is not known if the total of 3,000 retained mines in the February 2008 report indicates an unexplained increase back to 3,000, or if it is an error.[9]

Kenya is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. Kenya signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2008 but had not ratified as of 1 July 2009.[10]

Scope of the Problem

Contamination

Kenya is not believed to be mine-affected, although it has had a problem with UXO on training ranges at Archer’s Post.[11] Kenya’s latest Article 7 report listed no known or suspected mined areas, as did its previous report.[12] In 2008, the British Army carried out its annual Exercise Pineapple, in which explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel spend up to a month clearing UXO that may have been left in Kenya.[13] Media reports claimed that an incident which killed a child in Samburu district in June 2009 was caused by a cluster munition remnant.[14] Landmine Monitor was unable to verify the details of the reports. Kenya has not previously been considered affected by cluster munition remnants and had even made a declaration to that effect at the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008.[15]

Casualties

The British High Commission in Kenya reported five new UXO casualties occurring in 2008, including one person killed and four injured. Further detail was not provided.[16] In 2007, one man was killed by ERW.[17] In 2009 through July, in the incident referred to above, a 12-year old boy was killed in June, reportedly by a cluster munition remnant.

Landmine Monitor has identified 79 mine/ERW casualties between 1999 and the end of 2008 (24 people killed and 55 injured).[18] The last recorded landmine casualties occurred in 2005, when a bus drove over a mine near the border with Somalia, killing six people and injuring 10.[19] In 2002, media reported that at least 500 people had been killed by UXO since the start of military drills in 1945 and that many more had been injured.[20] In 2002, the British Ministry of Defence paid compensation to 1,046 people reportedly injured by UXO from training areas used by the British Army.[21] Figures are likely incomplete, as there is no systematic casualty data collection mechanism in Kenya.

Preliminary results of the 2007–2008 National Disability Survey found that 4.6% of the population was disabled.[22]

Program Management and Coordination

There is no mine action program in Kenya. The situation does not warrant specific victim assistance programs. The Ministry of Health is the lead ministry responsible for the care of persons with disabilities.[23]

Risk Education

Due to limited contamination, there were no mine/ERW risk education (RE) programs in Kenya, and in its most recent Article 7 report, Kenya left blank Form I regarding measures to provide warnings to the population.[24]

Since 1999, the majority of RE activities have been targeted at refugees from neighboring countries, mostly Sudan. However, activities decreased significantly in early 2008 when Handicap International (HI)—present since 2005—ended its program for southern Sudanese in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. A December 2007 evaluation of the HI RE program indicated that it had a positive impact on the behavior of its recipients and that it had a good potential for sustainability.[25] As an exit strategy, HI established RE clubs in schools and provided an RE video to its partners.[26] In March 2009, HI could not confirm whether these activities continued after its departure.[27] HI provided RE to some 129,577 people between 2005 and January 2008.[28]

Before 2005, other organizations providing RE included Jesuit Refugee Service Eastern Africa, the Kenyan military, the Organisation for the Survival of Il-Laikipiak Indigenous Maasai Group Initiative, and the Nairobi Rotary Club.[29]

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors is unknown but is at least 1,068 (1,046 from the British claims and the 2003–2008 survivors). Mine/ERW survivors receive the same services as other persons with disabilities, but access to services remained limited.[30] Public health facilities are considered to provide adequate treatment.[31] Physical rehabilitation is available at national, provincial, and district levels.[32]

The ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) continued to support two physical rehabilitation centers in Kenya: the Kangemi Rehabilitation Centre (Kangemi, mainly serving refugees) and the Kikuyu Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre (Nairobi). Due to budgetary constraints at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the ICRC had to provide one-off financial support to the Kangemi center in 2008, and in Nairobi production decreased due to a lack of funding, subsequent lower staff motivation, and access difficulties.[33]

The British Ministry of Defence has paid compensation to alleged UXO casualties, the last time in 2002. Although the 2007 casualty was allegedly due to UXO found at a British Army training field,[34] no additional claims were made to the British High Commission in 2008.[35]

The Persons with Disability Act 2003 prohibits discrimination and calls for the creation of a National Development Fund for the Disabled. As of March 2009, this fund had not been established and the Act was not implemented effectively.[36] Students with disabilities were often denied access to regular schools and less than 10% of children with disabilities were enrolled.[37] Kenya ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 19 May 2008, though it had not signed its Optional Protocol as of 1 July 2009.

Support for Mine Action

International Mine Action Training Centre

The International Mine Action Training Centre (IMATC) is jointly funded by the UK and Kenyan governments. Kenya has not reported in detail to Landmine Monitor on the financial structures or national contributions to the center, but IMATC has in the past reported Germany, the European Commission, the UK, and the US among its funding partners. It has also reported receiving funds from the UN Mine Action Service and UNDP, and staff support from the UK and the US.[38] In July 2007, the UK House of Commons Defence Committee reported that Ministry of Defence budget estimates including support to IMATC totaled £987,000 (US$1.8 million) for 2007–2008.[39] The UK did not report specific funding to Kenya or IMATC for the 2007–2008 or 2008–2009 fiscal years to Landmine Monitor.


[1] In its Article 7 report dated 31 July 2008, Kenya stated, “Legislation for domestication of land mine ban treaty to follow.” Article 7 Report, Form A, 31 July 2008. In November 2007, Kenya assured States Parties that it “is committed to fulfill her [treaty] responsibilities including that of domestication of the instrument.” Statement of Kenya, Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Dead Sea, 18 November 2007. Earlier, Kenya reported that the Attorney General’s office drafted national implementation legislation and sent it to the Office of the President for approval in June 2005. Parliament reportedly approved the preparation of national implementation legislation on 9 December 2004. See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p.472.

[2] Kenya’s latest Article 7 report, covering 31 March 2007 to 31 March 2008, was dated 31 July 2008 but was not received by the UN until 17 October 2008. Kenya has submitted five previous Article 7 reports: in February 2008 (covering 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007); 1 April 2005; 31 March 2004; 4 June 2002; and 27 December 2001. Kenya did not submit reports covering 1 April 2005 to 1 April 2006, or 1 May 2002 to 30 April 2003.

[3] Statement by Amb. Philip Owade, Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN in Geneva, Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 24 November 2008.

[4] The government stated this position in interventions on Article 1 at the Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 9 February 2004. Notes by Landmine Monitor. It is also contained in its draft legislation, “The Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines Bill 2004.”

[5] It continued, “We therefore consider mines with sensitive fuzes and all anti-vehicle mines with antihandling devices to be covered under Article 2 and therefore prohibited under the Convention.” Statement of Kenya, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 12 May 2006.

[6] Article 7 Report, Form B, 1 April 2005; and see Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 323, for details on the types of mines, which were obtained from Belgium, Israel, and the UK.

[7] Article 7 Report, Form D, 31 July 2008. The 1,020 mines include: 176 No. 4 mines, 42 No. 409 mines, 475
No. 6 mines, and 327 NR PRB mines.

[8] Statement of Kenya, “Kenya’s Progress on Aspects of Articles 3 and 5,” Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 27 April 2007. It stated that the mines were used for training in detection, clearance, and destruction techniques at training institutions, and were consumed during “humanitarian demining and EODs; demolition/destruction practical exercises; mine awareness training to peacekeeping contingents deployed to various missions.”

[9] Prior to the 2007 statement, Kenya had, since its initial declaration in 2001, consistently reported a total of 3,000 mines retained, suggesting that no mines had been consumed (destroyed) during training activities. However, in June 2006, an IMATC official told Landmine Monitor that it was using antipersonnel mines provided by the Kenyan Army for its training activities, and that the mines were being consumed during the training courses. Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, Commandant, IMATC, Nairobi, 6 June 2006.

[10] For details on cluster munition policy and practice see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice, Mines Action Canada, May 2009, pp. 102–103.

[11]See Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 494; and Kamal Ahmed, “Deadly munitions legacy: the Archer’s Post Range report,” The Observer, 1 July 2001, www.guardian.co.uk.

[12] Article 7 Reports, Form C, 31 July 2008, February 2008, and 1 April 2005.

[13] Email from Col. John Steed, Defence Advisor, Kenya and Tanzania, and Defence Attaché, Eritrea and the Seychelles, British High Commission, 26 June 2008.

[14]Nicholas Kigond’u, “Landmine explodes killing boy in Samburu,” Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, 14 June 2009, www.kbc.co.ke; and see also Graham Kirwa, “Kiema Kilonzo: Orengo and Kingi should Reimburse Government,” The Kenya Weekly Post, 16 June 2009, www.kenyaweeklypost.com.

[15] Statement of Kenya, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, 21 February 2008; and see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice, Mines Action Canada, May 2009, p. 102.

[16] Telephone interview with Col. John Steed, British High Commission, 25 March 2009.

[17] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 474.

[18] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529; Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 496; and Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 474.

[19] See Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 496.

[20] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529.

[21] Telephone interview with Col. John Steed, British High Commission, 25 March 2009.

[22] National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development, “Kenya National Survey for Persons with Disabilities – Preliminary Report,” March 2008.

[23] US Department of State, “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya,” Washington, DC,
25 February 2009; and see Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 475.

[24] Article 7 Report, Form I, 31 July 2008.

[25] Email from Sylvie Bouko, Regional Technical Advisor in Risk Education, HI, 29 May 2008.

[26] Telephone interview with Sylvie Bouko, HI, 25 March 2009; and see Landmine Monitor Report 2008, pp. 474–475.

[27] Telephone interview with Sylvie Bouko, HI, 25 March 2009.

[28] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 474.

[29] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529.

[30] US Department of State, “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya,” Washington, DC,
25 February 2009.

[31] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 475.

[32] Ministry of Health, “Department Of Curative And Rehabilitive Services: Orthopaedic Technology Services,” undated, www.health.go.ke.

[33] ICRC SFD, “Annual Report 2008,” Geneva, May 2009, p. 20. Support to the Kangemi center was provided to bridge the gap from July to December; UNHCR assistance was expected to resume in 2009. Email from Krisztina Huszti Orban, Legal Attaché, Arms Unit, Legal Division, ICRC, 29 July 2009.

[34] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 474.

[35] Telephone interview with Col. John Steed, British High Commission, 25 March 2009.

[36] US Department of State, “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya,” Washington, DC,
25 February 2009; and Phitalis Masakhwe, “It’s Time to Budget with the Disabled,” The Standard (Nairobi),
21 March 2009, www.eastandard.net.

[37] US Department of State, “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya,” Washington, DC,
25 February 2009.

[38] Presentation by Lt.-Col. Boniface Ngulutu, Deputy Commandant, IMATC, Humanitarian Development Program Summit, 3–5 October 2006, Nairobi.

[39] UK House of Commons Defence Committee, Ministry of Defence Main Estimates 2007–08: Twelfth Report of Session 2006–07 (Norwich: The Stationery Office, 10 July 2007), p. 18, www.publications.parliament.uk.